My coursework title is:
‘Explore the presentation of the Vampire in Dracula and Interview With The Vampire. In your answer you should consider different interpretations and contextual influences.’
If anyone could help me make a start on this, i would greatly appreciate it.
Im really stuck!
If anyone could help me on Interview with the Vampire as well you'd be a legend in my books!
X
oh, and also, i dont really know how to work this so sorry if it takes me a long time to reply!
Dracula is a monster, he stinks, he is a dead man walking. He is not cool. In XIX vampires are a monster, Stoker wrote a book about an outsider evil coming to his land.Originally Posted by faye
My coursework title is:
‘Explore the presentation of the Vampire in Dracula and Interview With The Vampire. In your answer you should consider different interpretations and contextual influences.’
If anyone could help me make a start on this, i would greatly appreciate it.
Im really stuck!
If anyone could help me on Interview with the Vampire as well you'd be a legend in my books!
X
oh, and also, i dont really know how to work this so sorry if it takes me a long time to reply!
Interview with a Vampire is a Vampire that is cool, a vision of vampire that was modificated in the XX century (largely due Dracula popularity, mostly the movies however, where he is more human and charming). Vampires are part of society, just a group that sets themselves apart...this kind of thing...
I don't think that Stoker wrote "Dracula" in order to convey the theme that Count Dracula "stinks", JCamilo.
Vampirism stands throughout the novel as a metaphor for promiscuous sexuality (both acts involve desire, penetration, the flow and exchange of bodily fluids - blood, in the case of vampirism). The Count's threat to society lies in his ability to turn previously respectable and pure women like Lucy and Mina into voracious predators. It is noteworthy also that women who have been corrupted by the Count, like Lucy and the three vampire women, show anti-maternal behaviour in preying upon children, thereby striking at one of the sacred aspects of Victorian womanhood. By implication, what gives the Count such power is his great sexual prowess. One episode especially drives this home: the scene in Chapter 21 in which Mina is discovered hungrily lapping blood from the Count's breast and later admits that she had no desire to "hinder" him from drinking her blood.
The Count represents an alternative reality to the reason- and economics-based world of modern London, and that reality can only be accessed by a consciousness that is not restricted to the rational faculty. Altered states of consciousness are common in the novel, and it is these states that provide a window through which it is possible to access the alternative reality of vampires. They include insanity (Renfield's usual state, and Harker's temporary state during his nervous breakdown); sleepwalking (Lucy); hypnotic trance (Mina); and dreams (Mina, Lucy and Harker). These are also the states in which, according to psychoanalytic theory, people can access the unconscious, the realm where the disallowed and suppressed elements of the psyche are stored.
Also, not only does Dracula represent sexuality, he also represents post colonialism - and the Anti-Semitic stereotype. (Look up the Jewish role in Fin-De-Siecle Britain and relate it to the character of Count Dracula).
In comparison, Anne Rice's "Interview With The Vampire" portrays the Vampire - Louis - as a somewhat mortal man blessed with eternal life - with a craving for blood. He is portrayed as a gentle and remorseful character whose incredible journey to find answers is not only chilling, but beautiful.
The character, Lestat should also be looked at - along with Claudia (I have a lot of notes on them both - but i feel as if i'm rambling!! EEK!!)
What you should look up though, is the use of religious symbolism in both. For example, Rice refers to the bible on page 54 when he describes the Vampire Lestat as a "thief in the night" - Thesselonians 5:2 "The Lord shall come like a thief in the night."
Hope that helps!
-Emma-
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
No, he stinks is a physical trait to help him to understand that Dracula of Stoker was not glamurous, but a monster, repulsive, intrusive.
Last edited by JCamilo; 09-12-2007 at 09:52 AM.
Ahh, true, I see what you mean.
=]
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
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